Related Articles

Leading super-middleweight contenders Darryl Williams and Mark Heffron have begun training under British boxing legend Ricky Hatton at his gym in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

The unbeaten pair both have fights on the horizon and believe The Hitman is the right trainer to take them to the next level.

Londoner Williams, 15-0 (6 KOs), is preparing to defend his English title in a rematch with Jahmaine Smyle at the Copper Box Arena on July 8, while Heffron, 15-0 (13 KOs), will square off with Bartlomiej Grafka at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse three weeks earlier on June 17.

“I’m over the moon that two of the best super-middles have chosen to join my gym and I think it says a lot about the work myself, Mike Jackson and Blain Younis have been doing with our lads over the past couple of years,” Hatton said.

“Darryl is a really exciting boxer and his first fight with Smyle is probably the British fight of the year so far. Everyone knows how much I liked a tear up during my career, but I’ll be aiming to add a few more subtleties to his game.

“As for Mark, what more do you need to say about him than ‘pure power’. He’s had a bit of a stop-start career, but he’s really on it now and anyone who can put away 13 of 15 opponents has to set pulses racing.

“I also train Jake Haigh and Chris Blaney so the gym is brimming with talent at middleweight and super-middleweight and I think the sparring sessions alone are going to be something else.”